Questions tagged [taxonomy]
Questions on the classification of biological organisms, and the methods used for classifying them.
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Why are Excavata called “Excavata”?
The explanation given in my textbook is:
Some members of this diverse group also have an “excavated” feeding
groove on one side of the cell body. (Campbell Biology)
This still isn't clear, ...
2
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2answers
44 views
What does it mean to share similarities among living organisms “both horizontally and vertically”?
I came across the following lines in a textbook (NCERT biology for class 11).
Systematic and monumental description of life forms, brought in, out of necessity, detailed systems of identification, ...
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14 views
Taxonomic hierarchy VS Hierarchical classification?
What are the differences between the two terms? I'm asked to identify the taxonomic hierarchy of an animal based on the hierarchical classification.
Are they talking about the pyramid of "domain, ...
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0answers
32 views
What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus?
What is the current status of the taxon Crocodylus raninus, the Borneo Crocodile? See Wikipedia Is it now a valid species, a subspecies of Crocodylus porosus (The Saltwater Crocodile) or merely a ...
2
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1answer
91 views
Helix aspersa or Cornu aspersum
The common garden snail was originally assigned as Helix aspersa and stayed that way for over 200 years. Recently, some biologists assigned it to the genus or subgenus Cornu renaming it to Cornu ...
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1answer
738 views
Is a lion a bony fish?
If you ask Wikidata "Does the species lion (Q140) have a parent taxon line up to the Osteichthyes (Q27207, bony fishes)?", it answers yes:
...
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1answer
69 views
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53 views
How does taxonomy work? The case of the Avian Dinosaurs
I recently discovered that the class Aves (or Birds) has been renamed Avian Dinosaurs. My question is when this taxonomic denomination achieved the consensus of the scientific community and through ...
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71 views
What are the sufficient criteria that make an entity a living homo sapiens? [closed]
When I say criteria I mean like x biological functions or y genetics.
If it were to be appearance,anatomy. A corpse completely looks like a man.
Moreover a person who has had their 4 limbs amputated, ...
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2answers
58 views
What is a “Valid Species”?
I read in a reference book on Google Books (Biology of Termites: a Modern Synthesis, eds. Bignell, Roisin, and Lo) that the termite Heterotermes perfidus found on the South Atlantic island of St ...
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59 views
Laurasia and Gondwana [closed]
The Cambrian explosion was 540 mya. Laurasia and Gondwana didnt collide until 330 mya. So for 210 million years the land was divided into two large continents. Plants and insects had already colonized ...
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1answer
43 views
Are there species which is debatable if they should be classified as animals or plants?
I'm watching a sci fi series and a character who is a biologist claims "even on Earth there are species which is debatable if they should be classified as animals or plants". I looked for examples of ...
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15 views
Database for Macroinvertebrate Taxonomy
I compiled different data sets of invertebrate occurrences across some countries and now I want to ensure that all the taxonomic information is homogenized and correct. To this end, I am looking for a ...
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12 views
What type of beetle is this? (Black, with long “mouth”)
I need to identify this beetle specimen. It is found in Malaysia
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1answer
56 views
What are the differences between insects and spiders?
I have always been told that a spider is not an insect, since the former has 8 legs and the latter 6 legs.
Is it just a matter of definition and spiders could have been defined as "8-legged insects"? ...
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1answer
31 views
How to define ammonites?
I miss the definition of ammonite. In my opinion, many authors confuse the term "Ammonite" and "Ammonoid". Ammonoids (Ammonoidea) are large group of cephalopods including for example goniatites (...
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23 views
How are asexual species classified?
Are there multiple distinct genetic lineages of asexual species that are closely enough related to not be considered distinct or does any genetic change result in a new species?
I would assume there'...
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1answer
57 views
Why is Cannabis Sativa considered a distinct form of Cannabis?
My understanding is that the word Sativa is Latin and means "cultivated." See here: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sativum
Since all cannabis consumed by people is cultivated and grown from seed, ...
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1answer
62 views
Did Plant Cells Evolve from Animal, Protist, or Fungal Cells?
I know protists and animals preceded plants but I am unaware of when fungi arose in relation to plants. At the moment, I cannot find a resource stating how plants evolved from existing kingdoms, or ...
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1answer
44 views
What sauropod genera had a double row of chevron bones in the tail?
I know that Diplodocus is marked by the feature of having a double row of or "double-beamed" chevron bones in the tail, but how diagnostic is this feature if several other sauropods have it? I mean, ...
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2answers
251 views
What is (probably) the closest living relative of the trilobite?
The trilobites vanished from the fossil record many millions of years ago, but they were obviously arthropods of some sort. Do we know which animals are their closest living relatives? I've heard both ...
3
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2answers
75 views
Is there a way tell apart dinosaurs from similar extinct reptiles?
When I was a child, I thought I knew what a dinosaur was. But, as I grew older, I was told that many of the extinct species that I thought were dinosaurs (dimetrodons, pterosaurs, plesiosaurs, etc.) ...
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27 views
Is Wikipedia a good source of taxonomy? [duplicate]
I have been quite interested in biology lately,and I would like to know whether it is a good choice to look up taxonomic information there.
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134 views
Why aren't mammals and reptiles considered amphibians?
We've all heard it: birds descend from dinosaurs, so they're dinosaurs too. But this got me thinking: doesn't this mean that, for instance, all terrestrial vertebrates – including humans – are ...
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0answers
20 views
Using spp. for taxa other than Genus
Can spp. be used for taxa other than genus ? For example Noctuidae spp. meaning certain genera in the Noctuidae family.
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24 views
How many proteins are common to all species? [duplicate]
Are there any proteins that are common to every Species in Earth's biosphere? If so, how many?
If not, are there any proteins common to every species of an entire Kingdom? If so, how many?
If not, ...
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0answers
35 views
Pre-linnaean names, where can I ask about current IDs?
I run a large website with lots of historical herb books. For the older ones, finding out current botanical names is very difficult.
Can I ask here? If not, does anybody know where I could ask what ...
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1answer
50 views
Are All Taxonomic Groups Uniquely Named?
The Linnaean classification system classifies and groups organisms into taxonomic groups: Kingdom, Phylum, Class, etc. Obviously, a clade at any taxonomic level is uniquely determined by its ...
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23 views
How related do life forms need to be to produce hybrids?
Specifically, I'm asking about infertile hybrids like ligers, mules, camas, etc. How closely related do animals need to be?
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1answer
85 views
Why is “VOLVOX” not considered to be in PROTOZA?
Volovox is an Algae, but it moves with the help of Flagella. Protozoa has members that move by Flagella. Why is Volovox taxonomically in the Algae instead of Protozoa?
2
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1answer
263 views
Are bears related to dogs in a similar way to how cats are related to 'panthers'?
I've tried searching on Wikipedia but I couldn't find what family dogs belonged to. Ursidae is 'bears' and Canis is 'dogs' ; Panthera is big cats like:- tigers and jaguars is what I know.
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2answers
450 views
Can two different species in the same genus generally succeed in the same habitat?
This plant-care website writes
In the context of plant care, usually most plants within the same genus need the same environmental conditions suitable for plant growth. If the genus of a plant is ...
2
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1answer
19 views
Why is the spirit bear/Kermode bear a subspecies of the American black bear Ursus americanus?
The Kermode bear Ursus americanus kermodei is only found in British Columbia,Canada. The Kermode bear has single nucleotide polymorphism at the melanocortin 1 receptor gene (mc1r) locus which cause ...
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4answers
4k views
Why do both the mango and the bee have “Indica” in their binomial name?
In my textbook, it is written that the binomial name of mango is Mangifera indica and the binomial name of a bee is Apis indica. Now in the name the second part is the name of species. But mango and ...
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1answer
48 views
Hominidae is to hominid as Poaceae is to what?
I considered asking this on English.SE, but decided against it, since it strictly applies to biological nomenclature, which not many of them will know about - particularly that of plants.
So, in ...
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40 views
Have traditional categories such as phylum, class, genus, been dispensed with in modern taxonomy?
Looking through the one zoom and EOL projects I see no reference to such categories.
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14 views
Should the infraspecific epithet agree in gender with the genus name?
Let's take the following plant name
Gymnocalycium mihanovichii
So we were to designate the yellow form of the plant, would it be
Gymnocalycium mihanovichii f. aurea
because forma is ...
0
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2answers
119 views
Rank-specific rules for taxonomic classification
There appears to be a very specific (although not universally agreed) list of characteristics that describe what a "species" is--and the list applies to ALL species. Are there similar generic rules ...
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2answers
117 views
Confused about plant phyla
My kids and I are doing a fun project collecting pictures of life in parks and national parks around us. We are trying to classify what we find down to genus and species.
However, I'm confused about ...
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0answers
53 views
Identification of Jumping Spider Species
I found this jumping spider (Salticidae family) in Pune/India. Most common species of jumpers in my region is heavy-bodied jumper (Hyllus semicupreus), but this is different species by observing body ...
2
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1answer
85 views
Who are Ursprungliche Eukaryoten?
The school textbook of my daughter (the textbook is written in German) describes the five kingdoms of life: prokaryota, plants, fungi, animals and "Ursprungliche Eukaryoten". These are defined as "...
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2answers
68 views
The parts of the phylogenetic nomenclature that need to be “unique”
I am not quite sure I have sorted through the diversity of approaches to nomenclature, but I had a specific question to help clarify what is going on. Basically I am just wondering what needs to be ...
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0answers
116 views
Example Clade Names in PhyloCode
After looking through the PhyloCode, the only thing I found that looked like an example was in Article 9, Chapter 4:
A node-based definition may be abbreviated "<A&B" or "<A&B&C&...
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1answer
54 views
Help me identify this Beetle sp?
I observed many beetles like this in Pune/India in the beginning of rainy season. It was dark green in color with white spots and not too much shiny like many other beetles. Size is about 2cm to 3cm.
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1answer
48 views
Is there a family equivalent to “congener”?
Is there an equivalent word to "congener" but for species in the same family (family in the sense of the taxonomic rank)?
"confamer"? "confamiler"???
I know I can just say "species X and other taxa ...
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1answer
62 views
Why swordfish aren't put in the same family as Marlins?
Why Swordfish (Xiphias gladius), which are very similar to Marlins, do not belong to the same family as Marlin - Istiophoridae?
Both has long bill or a sword in the upper jaw, both has (at least in ...
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1answer
81 views
Taxonomy problems on algae: Is Cryptophyta a Phylum or a Class rank?
I am currently interested in algae taxonomy (I am not an expert in the field).
I retrieved the taxonomy of my sequences with their NCBI access number via the taxonkit software (https://bioinf....
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1answer
3k views
is there an easy way to remember taxonomy? [closed]
So I have trouble remembering the order of taxonomy for classification.
i.e domain>kingdom>phylum>class>order>family>genus>species
I can never remember it, is there an good mnemonic to remember them? ...
4
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1answer
63 views
Help me identifiy this moth?
I found this moth in Bengaluru/India. Its body length was nearly 2cm. Brown colored with three yellow rings.
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60 views
Help me identify this fly species?
I found this fly in Bengaluru/India. It was larger than usual flies. It was more than 1cm in size, with black color which has blue shades in it. I managed to take just this one pic, then it flew away.
